Improvement in rotary engines



6 Sheets-Sheet 1.

R. DUDGEON. ROTARY ENGINE.

No. 110,022. 4 Patented Dec. 13, 1870.

,6 SheetsSheet 2.

' ROTARY ENGINE. No. 110,022. Patented Dee. 13, 1870.

O '2 O O O I O I O l I I O O HI 0 0 IO 0 6 Sheets-Sheet 3.

R. DUDGEON. ROTARY ENGINE.

I No. 110,022. Patented Dec. 13, 1870 R.DUDGEON. RRRR RY NNNNN E.

No. 110,022. Patented Dec. 13, 1,870.

R. DUDGEON. RRRRRRRRRRR E.

5 Sheets-$heet 5.

, ted Dec. 13, 1870.

/: r i v 6 Sheets-Sheet 6. R. DUDG'EON. ROTARY ENGINE.

No. 110,022, Patented Dec; 13, 1870.

hair-1d can;

RICHARD DUDGEO-N,

OF NEW YORK, N.

Letters Patent No. 110,022, datedDecemb er 1 3, 1870.

impnovsmsn'r m ROTARY ENGihIl ZS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of thesame.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, RICHARD Dunenox, of the city, county, and State oi'Ncw York, have made an invention of a new and useful Rotary Engine; and

that the following is a full, clear, and exact descrip-' -tion andspecification of the same.

'The'invention consists of an engine which is a combination of thefollowing instrumentalities, viz., two

cog-wheels geared together, cheek pieces to close the ends of the spacesbetween the cog-teeth,- and an entry-port so arranged as to admitsteaminto the spaces between the cog-teeth at one side of the line connectingthe axes of the two cog-wheels.

In this combination the practical 'eticct of admitting" steam atsaidentry-port is to cause thewheels to turn on theiraxes in a directionextending from the line Y of the axes toward that side thereof atwhichthe steam is'admitted. x

As the wheels turn each pair of cog-teeth passes over the steam port insuccession, and acts'as'a valve foclose the supply of the steam to thespace between it and the preceding pair of teeth, and to admitsteamto-tho spacebetween-it and the succeeding pair of teeth. Moreover, asthe teeth gradually drawiout of engagement during their recession fromthe. steamport, the space between the teeth is enlarged, and the steamiuclosed in that space is permittedfto. expand progressively, theexpansion beiugcontinued-until the teeth reccdc sufiicieutly to form anopening, where. upon the steam exhausts.

The invention consists, further, ot'the combination of the saidcog-wheels, cheek-pieces, and entry-port, with a. second port, the twoports being arranged at opposite sides of the line drawn through theaxes of the wheels, so'that one port may be used to supply.

steam when the wheels are run in one direction, and the other port maybe used when the direction of mo tiouis to be reversed. This.combination is advan-' tageous because it permits the engine to bereadily reversed by simply shutting off the supply of steam tooue-steam-port and admitting the supply to the other port. I

Theinvention consists, further, oft-he combination of the saidcog-wheels, cheek-pieces, and steam-port with an external casing toreceive the'exhaust steam, so that the said steam may be conducted to an'exboost-pipe, and be thereby discharged in any desired direction. v

.. The invention may be embodied in various forms, a

cw of which are represented in'the accompanying drawing as illustrationsofthe'diversity of form which the invention may assume without a changein its principle.

Figure 1 represents a side elevation of one form of rotary engineembodying the invention.

Figure 2 represents a'vertical'longitudinal section of the same.

. Figure 3 representsa plan of" the engine with oer tain portionsremoved.

The two cog-wheels A Af are. secured to shafts B B, which areconstructed to turn in boxes 0 c o'rmed in the casing D, one ot' theshafts B extending sufficiently beyond the casing to receive apulley-wheel, E, to which a belt maybe applied for the purpose oftransmitting the power.

. .The teeth of the two cog-wheels should he. care fully scraped, so asto engage accurately throughout their wholelength and prevent thep'assageot' steam between their contiguous faces. 7

The sides of the wheels, as far as the ends .of the teeth-and the rims,should also be carefully faced off,

so that these sides may move steam tightz gains't the -.adiacent facesof the check-pieces'EF, which close the ends of the spaces hetweentheteeth of the wheels. These cheek-pieces F; F .are ,fitted into socketsformed for the purpose in thecasing' D, and are constructed to bepressed against andheld in contact with the adjacent sides .of thecog-wheels bymeans of set-screws, which are not shown in the drawing.

One of the cheek pieces is perforated to form the steam-port c, by meansof which steam is admitted into the adjacent space'between the teeth ofthe two cog-wheels; the steam, being supplied to this port by meanspf asteam-pipe which leadsfrom ,theboiler, is counectedwvith the rear sideof the port, and is provided with a throttle-valve.

The steam-port 'e is arranged to admit the steam into the said spacewhen it is at one sideof the dotted line B B, drawn through the axes ofthe two cogwheels, so that the aggregate of the portions of the surfacesof the cog-teeth in "1,11 ,011 which the steam can act atone side oft-hesaid space, is greater than the aggregate of the portions of thesurfaces of the cog-teeth a 11, upon which-the steam can act at theother side of that space, Hence, when steam is ad'- mitted into thespacebetween the cog-teeth, the prepouderating pressure uponthe teeth Inm'will cause the wheels to-turnin the direction of the arrow f. I

As the wheels turn the space is gradually enlarged by the recession ofthe teeth from their engagement, so that the quantity of steam admittedincreases until one of the succeeding set of teeth it passes over thesteam-port and closes it for the first space.

' The steam which is now within that space is permitted'to expand by thecontinu enlargement of the space produced by the turning o the wheels,and expansion will continue until the teeth at the advancing side of thespace recedc snificiently to form an opening and permit'the steam toexhaust.

' Meanwhile, the tooth which closed the steam-port to the first spacehas passed by it sufficiently to open it between the succeeding spacebetween the teeth,

and this space in turn receivesa supply of steam to act inthe-samemanner as the supply to the precedmg space. 1 H

The steam, operating in succession upon' all the spaces between theteeth of the 'two'wheels, produces a continuous rotary motionwithoutijar, and this motion may be transmitted directly to themachinery to be driven by-the belt-pulley E and a belt. or by othertransmitting mechanism.

In order that the direction of motion of the engine may be reversed, asecond steam-port, e, is provided at the side of the line. B B, oppositethat at which the first steam-port e is situated.

This second port is Supplied. with steam-by means of a steam pipeconnected with it and fitted witha throttie-valve; hence, when theengine is to be re-' versed the throttle-valve of the first steam-portis closed and that of the other is opened, whereupon motion commences inthe direction indicated by the arrow 9 in fig. 2.

The form of the engine and the shape of the cogteeth may be'vaiiedto agreat extent without changing the principle of the invention. Thus, forexample, the cog-wheels of the engine thus faridescribed are plainspur-wheels, with the teeth of both wheels of the ordinary form. Teethof different forms are represented in profile in Figure 4, inwhich-figure the letters indicate the same parts as the correspondingletters in the previous figures.

In the form of engine represented at Figures 5," 6.,"- and 7, thecog-wheels A A have-conical faces similar to those of beveled wheels.. 7The cheek-pieces. F F are of spherical form, the one, F, convex, and theother, F, coucavej and. the teeth are of different dimensions, the teethh of .one wheel having concave sides and being very "broad, while-theteeth h of the other wheel are very narrow.

'Wheels of this construction should not have less than eight teethoneach wheel; four only are represented upon the wheels in the drawing, inorderthat their forms may be more clearly seen.

Figure 8 represents a transverse section of another form of engine, and

Figure 9 represents the arrangement of the teeth in profile. v

In this form th e-two tooth ed wheels A A have beveled faces, andareboth constructed with broad teeth similar to those, h, of onepf thewheels of the last preceding engine'. 7

As the teeth do not engage with each other, a separate piece, H, isprovided, to engage simultaneously in the opposite cavities between theteeth of thetwo wheels. v

This piece H consists of two wings, 'r. =r, which are secured to a bolt,s,'so as to change their relative positions like the two parts of ahinge.

The bolt '3 connectsthe piece- H with the spherical casing 1*", whichforms thccheek-piccc at the outer ends of the cog-teeth.

- The steam is supplied in this'case by a steam-port, e, formed inastationary hub, T, that surrounds one of the -wheel-ln1bs,,'andtheexhaust takes place through a similar port, ufformed in a stationaryhub, T, surrounding the hub of the other wheel, A.

The space between each set of teeth is connected withthe steam-portby'mea'ns of a passage, 'u, and with the exhaust-port by means of apassage, 1:. In this case the spherical. cheek-piece 13- revolvcs withthe wheels. v

The drawing, fig. 8, represents a sect-ion of the engine taken in aplane which is at right angles to the plane in which the axes of the twowheels diverge.

In practice,'I- propose to use aslide-valve operating against the backface of the cheek piece to reverse the engine, the valve being soarrangedthat when it .ismoved to the greatest extent in either directionit will open a port at one side of the line-joining the centers of thewheelsand close the 'port at the opposite side of that line, and whenthe valve is in its central position both ports will be closed.

The engine maybe used as a condensing-engine as well as a high-pressureengine. -In the former case with a port formed in one of thecheek-pieces at the side of the line joining the centeis of the wheelsop posite the side at which the steam-port is arranged.

I also propose to employ the engine as a pump,by' connecting one or moreof the'steam-ports in the cheek-pieces with the source from which thewater is to be taken.

' Having thus described several modes in which I have contemplated theapplication of theprineiple of my'invention, I declare that. I am awarethat cogwheels have been empl'oyedin the."eonstruction of many rotaryengines long previous to my invention,

other-members, which are required to constitute my new combination; butv What I claim 'as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,-is

l. The combination, substantially as before set forth, 'of twocog-wheels, the cheeh-pieees,aud the entryport, arranged to admit steam,as described.

of the two'cog-wheels, the cheek-pi eees, and two ports, arranged asdescribed. 3. The combination, substantial] y as before set forth, ofthe two cog-wheels, the cheek-pieces, the entry-port, and the exteriorcasing.

In witness whereof, I have hereto set my hand this 18th day of April,1870.

RICHARD DUDGEON.

Witnesses:

WALTE BUCHANAN. JOHN F. DETTMAR.

the exterior casing'may be connectedwith the cpndenser, or the condensermay be connected by a-pipe' and therefore I do not claim them separatelyfrom the 2. The combination, substantially as before set i'orth,

